Hearten
by kunoichi79
Summary: Shopping with a teenage girl can be tiresome-even more so if the person you wished to see has his own demons to attend to. But surprises can appear at the most unexpected places, and it might be just the comfort you're looking for. Oneshot BashoSen. They need more love perps! :3


Au/N: So this is the effect of my giddiness towards Bai-Feng's artwork! Yeah, it was all thanks to her that I was inspired to do great things (THANKS FOR THAT AWESOME SKETCH!) x)) Anyway, this is dedicated to my lovely underappreciated OTP-BashoxSen! Man, this two deserve more love y'know.

May be a bit OOC. But still, I love it to bitsssss. :D

ooooooo

The lovely city view from outside was visible with Senritsu's seat near the boutique's humongous window. Occasional smiles escaped her lips as the muscular bodyguard and the teenager fought about some comical nonsense for the umpteenth time. Apparently, it started as soon as they entered the car that morning until it lasted for about the rest of the day.

"No! Pink is better!"

"You already bought too much _pink!"_

Of all the things that Senritsu disliked about her job, it was the frequent visits to the mall she hated the least. It was the only moment wherein she could relax and truly laugh out loud, although the young Neon can be quite a pain in some situations. Unlike Basho, who would always cringe at the word 'shop' ever since he started his job, she can even dare volunteer to tag along with the girl just for the reason of unwinding herself and escaping the madhouse (and secretly bankrupt) mansion for a while.

And also perhaps to escape the sharp nails clawing inside her heart whenever she sees Kurapika falling deeper into darkness.

The thing is, she truly cared for the boy—no, he was not just a boy anymore. He was rapidly running towards the threshold of manhood in a terrifying pace. It pained her to know this, but nature had its own plans in which she had no right to halt. Knowing this, and the fact that it will be so soon as he would truly let go of all of his friends and lock himself up in his black and red universe, made her gaze drop to the floor.

"Sen-chan, are you listening to me?"

She was suddenly snapped back to reality when the youthful voice inquired with such impatience. Looking up, she found Neon's pert face already in front of her with shoes tapping on the floor for dramatic effects. The other was looking at her with... an expression she cannot fathom. It was then she realized that she was not paying attention.

Oh, what a slap in her face not to remember anything. To think she could hear vast distances.

"Oh, I'm sorry Miss Neon. Would you mind repeating the question?"

The girl could only blink it utter astonishment. She then spun around and marched away to the lingerie section while muttering "Senritsu? Not hear anything? What the flipping heck?" and other things to herself with a confused frown. It didn't go unnoticed by the smaller woman.

She bit her lip. What was wrong with her today?

She decided to let it go and focused her attention to the man. She smiled wryly. "You're having fun?"

The man huffed as he sat down beside her, his arms resting on the back of the chairs. "Give me a break."

Silence enveloped between them as the girl started her exuberant exclaims to the maids once again when the free makeover section gave her some flyers. Both watched the girl sit on the high chair giddily as the saleslady heated the curlers. Pretty soon, other girls huddled around her. Neon's face practically glowed with all the attention. The kimono-clad ladies could only sigh.

"I know you're worried about him."

Her surprise could never be more evident as now. She turned to face him. He was not looking at her, but somehow his heartbeat told her all his attention was on her.

_Her?_

"Look, I get that he's someone important to you but… you shouldn't beat yourself like this, y'know."

Her gaze dropped to the floor.

He stole another glance. He was doing a lot of that pretty lately, he noticed, and it was usually involving this kind music lady. Her disgruntled spirits bothered him more than it should, but it was not like it annoyed him. Come to think of it, the woman worried too much for others but she often forgot about herself. Can't say Kurapika was being a bastard either; he understood the boy's intentions anyway.

"Well," He slapped his hand against his knee and got up. She looked up at him. "Now that missy's busy with her self-proclaimed beauty crap, how 'bout we go grab some grub? I'm starving." He grinned, offering his large hand towards her. She smiled and took it.

"That would be lovely."

Basho helped her to her feet and they went, but not before giving Neon a stern lecture about not wandering anywhere else. Senritsu giggled as she watched the muscular man lose his cool on the cheeky teenager. He sounded more like an older brother (or a dad) and less a bodyguard when the girl didn't use him as her mannequin/ragdoll/baggage boy/anger releaser. It was adorable.

They passed by the stores and gizmos, making lighthearted chats and jokes along the way as the sun lazily went down into the horizon. They didn't mind the curious stares of people, or how odd a couple they might have looked (not that they actually _were _a couple), or how many bags of food and useless things they had bought just for the fun of it. Simply a time between friends, that's all.

And for the first time in many months, Senritsu did have fun. In a true and heartwarming sense.

As they were about to head back, they passed by a clearing inside the mall packed with a lot of people. Apparently, there was a commotion of some sort of musician or something. Basho initially thought of ignoring it and continued walking but his companion didn't budge.

"Oy, Senritsu?"

He looked back and was stopped short of what he was seeing. The woman's face was all aglow and her lips parted into something in between a smile and awe as the band started to play. Colors danced in her eyes in sparkling kaleidoscopes as her body faced the crowd entirely.

And for that one blessed moment, he saw the woman before the curse.

He slowly inched towards her, unsure of what he was supposed to do. She turned to face him, the gleam still evident on her face. "Basho, this is my childhood favorite! And the band is the original musicians as well!"

The smile on her face grew even wider as soon as the band hit the climatic part of the song. Memories of her youth and girlhood days flashed back into her mind and her heart sang. Before the curse was only her, free-spirited and so alive, with full of dreams for the future. If only she brought her flute with her she would have played along, if only she could float high above the ceiling to see them do their magic.

She could only manage a small 'ahh!' when she was suddenly being lifted off the ground.

"Basho, what—why..!" She stammered as he settled her in his large shoulders, unconsciously gripping onto his hair. His heartbeat was as noisy as her own, and this made her somewhat disoriented. He replied with a huge grin. "You wanna see them, right? Why not cherish the moment while we're at it?"

She had never felt so happy in a long time.

As the crowd swayed with the instrumental music, Basho felt something soft and warm touching his cheek. He blinked. Slowly but surely, he felt his ears turn red. Then, tiny hands rested themselves in his neck.

"Thank you." _For taking me away from everything, even just for a moment._


End file.
